Prime Minister Mitchell delivers motivational speech at TAMCC

“Hard work always pays off. There will be obstacles (and) doubters close to you and not so close to you, but if you believe in yourself and if you really want something badly do not listen to the naysayers…pursue the goals you have and wish for.”

Prime Minister Mitchell addressing TAMCC students last week Thursday

Those were the words of encouragement coming from Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell last week Thursday as he delivered a motivational speech to students at the T.A. Marryshow Community College (TAMCC) at Tanteen in St. George under the theme “Chasing your dreams.”

“Now the society, your parents, and others around you can give you lots of advice and provide opportunities for you, but if you do not grab it and if you do not take it don’t blame someone else for your lives,” Dr. Mitchell told the students who converged at the TAMCC Student Centre building.

Dr. Mitchell spent the afternoon interacting with the students and encouraging them to dream big and to never give up no matter the situation.

He used the opportunity to share his life stories leading up to his success with the students and also encouraged them to chase their dreams.

The visit to the nation’s premier tertiary institution comes with general elections due within the next year.

Most of the students at TAMCC have reached the voting age of 18.

Prime Minister Mitchell emphasised to the students that the road ahead would not be an easy one but with perseverance anyone can pull through.

“Take what you get until you get what you want,” Dr. Mitchell told the students noting that while “some people do need a lot of support because of the environment; invariably your success would be highly dependent on your own initiative and your work.”

At the end of the motivational speech, students were given an opportunity to interact with the Grenadian leader and asked him a question in relation to ‘the poor healthcare system in the country.’

The Prime Minister pointed out that “the system that we have is part of the problem that we have to deal with.”

He said government is spending a lot of money in the healthcare system but acknowledged that “we are not getting value for the money (and) that is why we are moving aggressively into a national health insurance scheme”.

“It cost a lot of money to provide the healthcare that we think is necessary…we are moving in the right direction…I too have seen many trauma,” said Dr. Mitchell, who has been Prime Minister of the country for 17 of the last 21 years.

“I have family who also suffer the consequences of poor health care in our country and not just under my government (but also) under previous governments…we are moving to make sure that other persons do not suffer the same thing,” he added.

Prime Minister Mitchell also reiterated the point that those who can afford to pay for the services are getting free treatment at times and the poor in many cases are called upon to pay for some services.

“My own feeling is that we have a lot of people paying insurance companies for health care (and) somebody walks into the General Hospital, they have insurance and they still get the thing (medicine et cetera) free and the insurance (company) pays the government nothing (and) then a poor person walks in with no insurance and he has to get something like an x-ray and he is told that he has to find the money. That must change,” he told the students.

“It’s certainly not fair because his life is just as important as the next man,” he said.